The Fairytale Castle Neuschwanstein by Kilian Schoenberger
“When you awaken, nature awakens, too.”
― Eckhart Tolle, Eckhart Tolle's Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World
What changes when a person awakens? It is not nature itself but the way it is perceived. In a state of ordinary consciousness, dominated by thoughts, worries, and distractions, one may walk through a forest without truly seeing it. The mind is preoccupied with past regrets or future concerns, treating the present moment as a mere means to an end. But when one enters a state of deep awareness—free from mental noise—the same forest reveals itself in an entirely new way. The rustling of leaves, the shimmer of sunlight on water, the scent of the earth—all these elements seem to vibrate with an aliveness that was previously unnoticed.
Poets and mystics throughout history have described this transformation. William Blake, for example, wrote:
"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Blake suggests that the world’s true beauty is always present but obscured by the filters of ordinary perception. Similarly, Tolle’s quote implies that nature has always been alive and sacred—it is only in awakening that we finally see it as such.